When Brendan Sorsby Can Actually Play for Texas Tech After Winning Injunction

In college football news that was equally stunning and not surprising, a Lubbock County judge on Monday awarded an injunction to Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, granting him eligibility and in essence, allowing him to take the field for the Red Raiders in 2026.

Sorsby’s status was previously in doubt after allegations of gambling during his two seasons at Indiana came to light. Sorsby, who was a high-priced transfer to Texas Tech, was deemed ineligible after an NCAA investigation uncovered 40 bets involving Indiana football and roughly $90,000 in wagers across a four-year span. But Sorsby, in an attempt to bypass the NCAA’s bylaws on gambling, filed a lawsuit against the organization, which he has now won thanks to judge Ken Curry’s ruling that Sorsby’s attorneys demonstrated he will suffer a “probable, imminent and irreparable injury” if he was unable to play for Texas Tech in 2026.

The ruling begs several questions.

Will Brendan Sorsby play this year?

Most likely yes. The language in Curry’s ruling is pretty strong, particularly this part: The NCAA cannot prevent Sorsby from “practicing, playing or otherwise participating on Texas Tech's football team for the 2026 season.”

The NCAA is reportedly expected to appeal the decision, though they don’t exactly have the best track record in court lately. Filing for a recusal was an easy lever to pull in the NCAA’s case against Charles Bediako, when a judge who had made donations to the University of Alabama had initially granted Bediako a restraining order, which allowed him to play for the Crimson Tide. Curry, though a retired judge from a county nearly 300 miles from Lubbock, seemingly holds no obvious connections to the university.

Seeing as Monday’s ruling was an injunction, or an effective delaying of a punishment (Sorsby’s ineligibility), it’s certainly not the last we’ve seen of Sorsby vs. the NCAA. But for now, it’s far more likely Sorsby suits up for Texas Tech than he doesn’t.

When can Sorsby actually play for Texas Tech?

Among the conditions of the ruling were that Sorsby, who in April checked into a residential treatment program for a gambling addiction, continues to engage in counseling with a focus on gambling disorders, and that he is effectively suspended for the first two games of Texas Tech’s season.

This means that Sorsby will miss the Red Raiders’ Week 1 game vs. Abilene Christian on Sept. 5 and its Week 2 game at Oregon State on Sept. 12. Assuming the NCAA’s appeal of Monday’s ruling is fruitless, this would mean that Sorsby could make his Red Raider regular season debut in Week 3 vs. Houston on Sept. 18.

Who will start for Texas Tech at quarterback in Sorsby’s absence?

Backup Will Hammond, who threw for 680 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions before suffering a season-ending torn ACL in October, is expected to be the team’s starter once he’s fully healthy. The Red Raiders in mid-May said Hammond was expected to be cleared for football-related activities on Aug. 21, with the soonest timeline for his return to game action likely to be Week 2 vs. Oregon State, and perhaps the best-case scenario, Week 3. But if Hammond is able to start in Week 2, that would mean the Red Raiders would need to dip further into the depth chart for their starter under center against Abilene Christian in the season’s opening game.

The favorite for that role, given the way the spring played out, appears to be Kirk Francis. A Tulsa transfer, Francis is the only other QB on Texas Tech’s roster with starting experience at the collegiate level, an edge he held over competitor Lloyd Jones III. Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire seemingly addressed Francis’s advantage in March.

“Kirk's played," McGuire told The Lubbock-Avalanche Journal in March. “So he's processing stuff at a little bit different level just because he's played college football.”

So, if Hammond is ahead of schedule, it’s likely to be the dual-threat signal-caller under center. If Hammond isn’t ready, expect Francis to take the reins.

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